{"id":657685,"date":"2025-12-27T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T11:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657685\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T11:09:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T11:09:14","slug":"labour-pressure-grows-as-unions-urge-rethink-on-brexit-red-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657685\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour pressure grows as unions urge rethink on Brexit red lines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tTrade unions and senior political figures are speaking out in support of the UK returning to the EU customs union\u00a0\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer should look at taking the UK back into a customs union with the EU<\/a> to benefit British workers, the general secretary of the TUC has said.<\/p>\n

Paul Nowak said a customs union should be among the Government\u2019s options to make trade with Europe as \u201cfrictionless as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lord Helseltine<\/a>, a former Conservative deputy prime minister, also urged Starmer to negotiate a customs union \u2013 which removes some trade barriers \u2013 to reverse the \u201csignificant loss of market share\u201d British firms have suffered in Europe since Brexit.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Health Secretary Wes Streeting reopened divisions over Europe within Labour when he appeared to float the idea of rejoining the customs union, in an interview with The Observer. The intervention was a departure from the policy laid down by Starmer, who has said it is a \u201cred line\u201d that the Government will not cross.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, Nowak \u2013 one of the most prominent figures in the labour movement \u2013 has joined Streeting in urging the Prime Minister to look at the idea.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Starmer should consider taking the UK back into the customs union, he told The i Paper: \u201cThe TUC said back in May, when we had that summit and the agreement with the European Union, the Government should have an open mind and be prepared to look at everything up to and including a customs union.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for me, this isn\u2019t about politics, and it\u2019s not about rerunning the referendum. It\u2019s about saying this is our most important trading partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got companies that have supply chains that stretch into Europe and goods going backwards and forwards. We need to make that as frictionless as possible \u2013 and a customs union might be the option. It might be another set of arrangements, but the guiding principle should be a close, positive working relationship with Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s good for workers on this side of the Channel and on the other side of the Channel as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Rejoin Europe to get growth\u2019<\/p>\n

Heseltine said rejoining the customs union was the right move. The Conservative grandee told The i Paper: \u201cBrexit is a disaster and the quicker we recognise that the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery step which is taken politically in that direction, of rejoining, is to be welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people have suggested that Streeting endorsed a customs union because he harbours leadership ambitions<\/a>, with many Labour members favouring closer relations with the EU. The Health Secretary has denied being on leadership manoeuvres.<\/p>\n

Heseltine said he thought Streeting\u2019s intervention was \u201cmore about the internal politics of the Labour Party than any reality\u201d. But he added: \u201cOf course, there is no doubt that British industry is suffering significant loss of market share and if you want a growth agenda you\u2019ve got to rejoin Europe, and the quicker the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he thought the Government would eventually end up embracing a customs union, Heseltine said: \u201cWell, I\u2019m not competent to speak to the internal politics of the Labour Party, but on the other hand, who the hell is?\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he said that the direction of travel was for closer ties with Europe, with the Tories at risk of being left behind: \u201cThere is a serious lesson for the Conservative Party, they need to recognise the way the wind is blowing\u2026 the wind is blowing towards our relationship with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform pact could do \u2018serious damage\u2019 to Tories<\/p>\n

He also warned the Tories against doing a deal with Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK. \u201cHaving any relationship with Reform would do serious damage to the Conservative Party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some Labour MPs think it would be a mistake to form a customs union with the EU, because it would mean the UK losing its post-Brexit freedom to strike its own trade deals. <\/p>\n

If the UK joined a customs union, the Government would be likely to have to scrap existing trade deals negotiated with countries such as the US and India.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour next read<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\"Article <\/a><\/p>\n

There would also be no certainty that the UK would benefit from free trade agreements negotiated by the EU.<\/p>\n

No 10 has said that the Government\u2019s policy is to \u201cstrengthen\u201d the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU, but has confirmed that it has no plans to rejoin the customs union.<\/p>\n

In a speech earlier this month, Starmer said Britain had \u201credefined our bond with the EU, building a new partnership that benefits both sides, sticking to our red lines while supporting British businesses, making food cheaper, and slashing red tape\u201d.<\/p>\n

Downing Street declined to comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trade unions and senior political figures are speaking out in support of the UK returning to the EU…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,6852,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,528,84159,16,34004,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-657685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-customs-union","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-labour-party","18":"tag-tuc","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-unions","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115791225136761151","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}